What level do we learn fireball?

"Congratulations! You've decided to be a spellcaster. With that comes great responsibility, a grave, deadly serious study of the darkest arts--"

"When do we learn fireball?"

"The sooner I get through my introductory speech, the sooner we'll get down to the Firing range. Now silence yourself before I decide I need another stone hatrack. Now, it all depends on where you're going to do your post-grad..."

• Dungeons & Dragons ("the old school") - Magic User Level 5
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Wizard Level 5, Cleric if granted by your deity.
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition - Wizard level 5, Sorceror level 6; other situations again requiring the intervention of one's Deity...
• Black & White - ...and any half-decent Deity can cast fireball whenever He wants.
• Nethack - Scrolls are available to the rabble, and if you can read, then you can cast fireball. But are you sure that "VELOX NEB" doesn't mean "genocide self"? To truly learn the spell requires high INT and/or good luck.
• Diablo - Sorceror Level 4, if that's all you ever study. Warriors and Rogues can learn it at levels 7 and 6, but if they really want to cast fireball, they should... well, if there are any of you in the room, see me after class. I've got a cauldron that needs fill--er, scrubbing.
• Diablo II - Sorceress Level 12 (requires Fire Bolt), and you need to have saved a skill point for the spell and its prerequisite.
• Gemstone III - Magic user level 8
• GURPS - Requires Magery skill and Create Fire and Shape Fire spells. There's no "level" involved, but to learn it, you need to spend a heap of character points. (thanks, WWWWolf)
• Soul Blazer - Level 0, for those of you who want to take the easy way out...
• Ultima Online - III Circle, with the incantation: "Vas Flam."
• Magic: The Gathering - costs at least 1 red mana, no 'level' required (of course, to do any damage, you need to put more mana into it).
• Super Mario Brothers - Again, no "level" to speak of required... but you need to knock your head on a brick ceiling, eat a flower larger than your body, and change into white overalls. My scholarly texts are unclear as to whether this constitutes "learning" the spell, or represents a bizarre off-shoot of artifact casting.
• Super Mario RPG - At Level 3, Mario learns "Fire Orb".
• EverQuest - No spell is actually named "Fireball," but several of you may be able to learn things like "Fire Burst" and "Rain of Fire" relatively early in your curricula.
• Vampire: The Masquerade - fireball is a fairly basic "Lure of Flames" spell, acquired at 2nd level.
• Mage: The Ascension - again, no 'level', but at the very least, you'll need Forces 3, Prime 2. If all you ever want to do is cast fireball, you can attempt it now. If your talents lie in that direction, you might even survive the paradox...
• E2 - You want to graduate to WHERE??? Get out! All of you! Get out right now, before I show you a real fireball!

mutter mutter think they know all there is to know about flames... I've got their fireball right here... mutter mutter nate mutter mutter curse mutter dem bones...

• Demon's Souls: You need to be trained by Sage Freke, the Visionary
• Dark Souls 3: Fireball is one of the most basic Pyromancies. In order to use it, you must equip a Flame at a bonfire.
• Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition: 3rd level evocation.
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim It's on the Destruction school of magicka, at an Adept level. Casting it shoots a somewhat-fast traveling ball of fire that explodes upon impact and deals forty points of fire damage in a fifteen-foot radius
• World of Warcraft: Ability of the Fire Mage, learned at lvl 10
• Final Fantasy: Level 1 Black Magic, can be bought at Cornelia. Can be used by Black Mage/Wizard, Red Mage/Wizard and Ninja
• Final Fantasy II: You need to use a Fire Tome to learn Fire
• Final Fantasy III: Level 1 Black Magic, can be bought at Kazus, Tozus and the Viking cave. Usable by Black Mage, Red Mage, Magus and Sage classes
• Final Fantasy IV: Palom, Tellah and Fusoya all know Fire from the beginning. Rydia learns it at Mt. Hobs. Fire can also be cast by using the Flame Rod
• Final Fantasy V: Can be bought for 150 gil at Tule, Carwen, Karnak and Crescent. Can also be cast by using the Wonder Wand. It's available only to Black and Red Mages
• Final Fantasy VI: Can be learned via espers Siren, Ifrit, Maduin and Bismarck. Terra has innate use of Fire
• Final Fantasy VII: Can be used by equipping the Fire materia, which is everywhere and can be bought at many shops.
• Final Fantasy VIII: Can be drawn from many enemies (Adel, Anacondaur, Biggs, Bite Bug, Bomb, Buel, Elite Soldier, Esthar Soldier, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), G-Soldier, Grendel, Hexadragon, Ifrit, Jelleye, Mobile Type 8, PuPu, Raldo, Seifer, Sphinxara, Sphinxaur, T-Rexaur, Wedge, X-ATM092) and can be refined with the F Mag-RF (learned from Ifrit) with M-Stone Pieces
• Final Fantasy IX: Vivi can learn Fire when equipping a Mage Staff or Leather Hat, both of which can be bought at the Village of Dali
• Final Fantasy X: Anyone can learn Fire, but given the initial positions, Lulu will most likely be the first character to reach it.

THE IRON NODER CHALLENGE XII: WE'LL RUST WHEN WE'RE DEAD

Wait, you're asking what level in Everything2 we can learn fireball? You could have checked the XP system, but it's level 15. Sorry about those writeups above, they really just love their video games.

Take note that if you attempt to /fireball while underleveled, it is guaranteed to fail, and whoever is active now will see it (even if you don't see anyone in the "Other Users" nodelet, it's still not safe!). Do you want to be shamed and mocked by your fellow noders? No? Then stop reading this and grind yourself to that level. With quality, of course.